The 8 Most Needlessly Detailed Wikipedia Entries

#4. Universe of the Metroid Video Game

Summary:
A record-breaking number of virgins got together to describe in exhaustive detail, the history, culture, physiology and life cycle of any creature that has ever been featured in a Metroid video game. This isn't, as one might suspect, an article about the people who created the Metroid series or how they created it, nor does it include tips on being a more effective Metroid gamer. So if you searched for "Metroid" because you needed some codes or hints, anything that might make playing the game a little easier, this is not the place to go, unless Metroid 2 has a level where an in-depth understanding of the Space Pirate' culture and physiology comes in handy.

Notable Excerpt:
"A Dark Luminoth was shown briefly in an early video for Metroid Prime 2: Echoes, but was taken out of the game because scan data reveals that most Luminoth choose to self-terminate before an Ing takes full control over their body." Someone honestly thought this article would not be complete without this crucial inclusion. That without it, there would be thousands of kids lying awake in bed at night thinking, "There was a Dark Luminoth in that early Metroid Prime 2 video, but he never appeared in the game ... something just doesn't add up."

Why We Can Do Without It:
Wikipedia warns that this article "may contain original research or unverified claims." If we're going to waste time--which, given the size of the article, would be around eight days--reading facts about the ins and outs of the fictional Metroid Universe, we'd like to believe that the information is reliable. Just imagine how embarrassed we'd be talking about Metroid around the water cooler:

CRACKED: Boy, Metroid Prime sure was impressive escaping that series of tunnels in the Impact Crater, eh gang?

Co-workers: Uh, what tunnels? Metroid Prime was incased in a sealed chamber, asshole. Where'd you get your pirate data, The Chozo Library?

[Humiliating Laugher]

CRACKED: Damn you, Wikipedia.

What We'd Rather Read:
The Wikipedia entry on Metroid, The Video Game Series discusses the creation of the game, gameplay features and a (listen up, other Metroid article) brief summary of the characters and the storyline. It' 5,526 words which is, admittedly, a lot, but when you compared to something six times as long and possibly pulled from the author's ass, it's not so bad.

#3. Jason Mewes

Summary:The entry for Mewes, the actor who played Jay in all those Kevin Smith movies, describes his years of drug abuse in frightening detail. If you'd never heard of Mewes, and you stumbled upon this entry, you'd assume that he was a celebrity drug addict who happened to do a film every once in a while. For good measure, the entry also contains a section that explains what words like "snoogins" mean (Hint: absolutely nothing).

Notable Excerpt:
"Mewes then began the methadone program and started to successfully kick his heroin habit and spent more and more time with Smith, frequently going on trips to find Star Wars action figures at Toys "R" Us to take his mind off things… After finding out that respected English actor Alan Rickman was going to star in Dogma, Mewes proceeded to memorize not only his lines, but the entire screenplay as well so he 'wouldn't piss off that Rickman dude'."

Why We Can Do Without It:
Kevin Smith' fans may be a bunch of 12-year-old morons, but even they can surely tell that Jason Mewes has a history with drugs. Do we really need to chronicle every up and down of that history?

This is a talentless actor who has made a career mootching off of his friend, spent one movie getting outsmarted by a monkey, and another movie dancing with junk tucked between his legs. Still, this is a fairly embarrassing entry. Really, take some time to let that all sink in: We want this entry taken down to leave the guy (who, in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, farted on a cop), an ounce of dignity.

What We'd Rather Read:
How about the one for Christian Bale? Bale, as opposed to Mewes, is actually an actor. He' older than Mewes, gets more publicity, and has made more films... and yet his entire entry is only about 1,000 words longer than Mewes'. Maybe if nerds didn't spend so much time detailing the Star Wars-shopping sprees that Mewes and Smith went on, we might be able to learn a little bit more about actors that are actually talented--like where Christian Bale buys his action figures.

#2. List of City Nicknames in the United States

Summary:
What's depressing about this entry on city nicknames is that most of them are small towns that have decided to bleed their one meager accomplishment for all its worth.

While some of the information is useful (for example, knowing that Camden, N.J., is also known as "Murder City" should be considered when making any vacation plans), knowing that Brevard, N.C., is "Home of the White Squirrels" is just a waste of Internet space. Yes, we're aware that space on the Internet is basically infinite, but that doesn't change the fact that no one should care where white squirrels come from. For more pointless nicknames, consider Reading, Pennsylvania, which is the pretzel capital of the world, or Paducah, Kentucky which is "Quilt City." Also, did you know that two cities in Oregon--Halsey and Tangent--have laid claim to being the grass-seed capital of the world? We'll bet a lot of blood' been spilled over that one.

Word Count:16,361. That's over 12 times as many words as The Declaration of Independence (1,326).

Notable Excerpt:
"Cedar Bluff—Crappie Capital of the World"

Why We Can Do Without It:
Well, it doesn't really... wait a minute, hold on. There' a town in Alabama that went out of its way to declare itself the crappie capital of the world? Okay, we may owe this article an apology because that's actually pretty awesome.

In fact, why couldn't the whole article have been about the crappie capital? We'd have read that. If you're a resident of Cedar Bluff, Alabama and you'd like to start a petition to get your city council to change your town' nickname to something that isn't completely embarrassing, then let us know and we'll be glad to help bring it to national attention.

It is our position that nobody should have to live in the crappie capital of the world, with the possible exception of the cast of MadTV.

What We'd Rather Read:
The mayor of Cedar Bluff' formal application to change the nickname to something less hilariously embarrassing.

#1. List of Unicode Characters

Summary:
This was the largest entry on Wikipedia at the time that we compiled this list. We can only assume that it' gotten even bigger since then, because site users have flagged the entry as incomplete and encouraged others to "help" by expanding it. There' also a lively debate over whether or not the entry should be merged with another entry about the Unified Canadian Aboriginal Syllabics character table, which is even more fascinating than it sounds.

No matter what the fate of this giant article might be, its mind-boggling scope makes us think the elderly might be onto something with that whole "afraid of the Internet" thing.

Word Count:60,296. That's more words than The Great Gatsby (50,051).

Notable Excerpt:
"This is a list of Unicode characters." We know that' a short excerpt, but it' also the only part of the article we understood. The rest was just pages and pages of code that took forever to load.

Why We Can Do Without It:
Unicode is a language, so putting every single character in this entry is basically like pasting the entire Oxford English dictionary into the entry for English. We're certain there are people out there who worked hard to build this list, and we're just as certain that they are deserving of our pity. But, there' got to be a topic more worthy to wear the crown of longest Wikipedia entry. What about Cracked? Our 50-year history is rich with incest, matricide and diabetes. Make it happen, Internet!

What We'd Rather Read:
Anything. Really, anything else at all. Put anything in front of us and we would choose it over a list of Unicode characters every single time. Hell, even the Wikipedia entry on "Anything" is more appealing and certainly more succinct (144 words). Did you know that "Anything" is a drink in Singapore? Can you name four different bands that have recorded songs titled "Anything?" We can, and it' not because we read over 145 pages of Unicode, that' for damn sure.